The Strategy and Policy Manager introduced the report.  He summarised how the programme had originated, and achievements to-date.  The Board noted the following updates:

• Action 31 reported at appendix 1 (arising from the recommendations of the LGA Corporate Peer Challenge in 2018) was RAG rated ‘red’ since at the time of publication budgets for each budget manager had not been agreed.
• The Brexit Commission had now developed an action plan and toolkit.  The Council was working closely with partners and resdients in preparation for the potential impacts of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
• Communications Team has launched campaigns to promote a positive image of the Council and internal initiatives such as ‘Yammer’ have been implemented to engage staff in improving organisational culture.
• A Local Community Fund has been launched and associated training delivered to enable community groups to access awards from this fund.
• The Strategy and Partnership Board has reviewed and streamlined Council strategy and polices.
• The Constitution review is progressing. Revisions are being consulted upon via the relevant consultees and General Purposes Committee.  It was intended that a report would be taken to July Council.
• An HR Policy Development Group had been established to update and improve employment policies and procedures.
• IT improvements included network upgrade to improve productivity and deployment of Wi-Fi at Council locations in the borough.
• There had been improvements in relation to markets arrangements in the borough.
• The strengthening local democracy initiative was progressing.  As part of this, scrutiny processes and procedures had been strengthened to better align them with strategic priorities and a Children and Education Scrutiny Sub Committee had been established.

The following information was then provided in response to Members’ questions:

·         The action plan would bring about organisational change through targeted coordination of individual measures which together would achieve this aim.  Indicators of progress would be used to track progress and target core themes to ensure that resources were targeted to appropriate areas.

·         The reorganisation of Scrutiny sub committees enabled this function to better align to the Authority’s executive portfolios and provide better oversight of how the Councils arrangements delivers its priorities.

·         TOWER values this year would be incorporated into PDRs.  In this way they would be embedded into the organisation and demonstrate how its activities fulfilled the TOWER criteria.

·         There was annual data on how the Council was meeting its equalities employment targets.  Additionally the Equalities Board was looking into topical related matters.

·         For technical and legal reasons, it had not been possible to deliver community Wi-Fi.  However the Council was exploring whether Wi-Fi could be delivered to estates in the borough.

·         No formal follow-up review had been directed following the LGA Peer Review in 2018; however the Chair of the Peer Review Group had provided feedback to senior management.  Normally a follow-up review would be expected two years after the initial review.

The Board requested that:

·         An update on work being done to explore the provision of Wi-Fi to estates be provided to the Chair.

RESOLVED

1.    That the progress of the Tower Hamlets Improvement Plan and comments of the Board be noted.

2.    That the action requested above be taken forward.

Action by:     D. Kerr, Strategy and Policy Manager